In terms of UK news, the last week has been relatively quiet but there were a few announcements that may have been missed. Three men were jailed when it was discovered that they had used a nuclear bunker to grow millions of pounds worth of marijuana in Wiltshire. Despite the summer holidays, the Conservatives have found time to axe a benefit that helps millions of households each year, plans have emerged to sell of more NHS properties and there are twice as many people homeless than initially thought.
Meanwhile the end of world could be nigh, as Donald Trump vows to respond to any North Korea threat with ‘Fire And Fury’.
In Australia, the vote to legalise gay marriage has become more complex after the government decided to hold an advisory voluntary postal vote on the issue plus more.
The news in the UK
The Conservative government have found time in their summer holidays to double the amount of NHS properties they are selling off, in a report it has been estimated that 543 plots of NHS land were deem surplus to requirement in 2016/17, which is approximately 1,332 hectares. This is a rise from 418 plots totalling 545.7 hectares the previous year. Details of more than half of the NHS land up for sale is being kept secret due to ‘sensitivity issues’ and dozens are still being used for patient care despite being ‘surplus to requirements’.
There has been a significant change in a benefit that helps millions of families each year, the Support for Mortgage Interest benefit, which costs around £170 million a year, will be axed and replaced with a loan. Ironically, the loan itself will be secured against your house and billow interest. Currently 124,000 receive the benefit, half of them are pensioners.
A new study has revealed that approximately 9,100 people are sleeping rough in the UK, more than double the previous estimate of 4,100 with homelessness set to double by 2041.
Theresa May’s Brexit stance will harden after papers outlining the governments Brexit stance could be released within the next two weeks. They are set to release multiple papers to try and show she is ‘getting on with the job’ ahead of the next set of talks at the end of August.
Rapper Lowkey has released a heartfelt track about Grenfell, the rapper lives within the community and witnessed people dying during the tragedy. Finally, the UK have been criticised for selling arms used by the Venezuelan government against opposition.
News of the world
Donald Trump has put the world on edge after he stated that North Korea would be met with ‘fire and fury’, this was after Kim Jong-Un threatened an attack on the US territory of Guam. This eclipsed an earlier decision by the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on the secret state. Myanmar’s official investigation into human-rights abuses committed by the army resulted that no such crimes occurred, earlier this year a UN reported that mass killings, rapes and beatings were committed against the Muslim Rohingya population.
Myanmar’s response was to bar the UN from investigating.
South African president, Jacob Zuma, has narrowly kept his position after the motion of no confidence failed to get the 201 votes needed to remove him, however, approximately a sixth of the MPs from the ruling African National Congress either abstained or voted with the opposition. Venezuela’s troubles worsen despite a newly elected constituent assembly, which Maduro called to try and solve the crisis to give the people more power but was boycotted by the opposition. The assembly have subsequently sacked attorney-general, Luisa Ortega Díaz.
The US have since imposed more sanctions on Venezuela officials and Mercosur, a South American trade bloc have suspended them.
The election of the assembly was called after Maduro wanted to create a fresh mandate for the people of Venezuela and begin to solve the problems that have occurred, however, it was boycotted by the opposition. Despite the mistakes that have been made by the country’s ruling party, this shows that the opposition have no desire to end the violence.
There is further evidence of this after a Peace and Dialogue Table was set up to negotiate peace with Maduro, the opposition then refused to negotiate demanding the presence of the Vatican, after the Nunico arrived, they still refused, which was when Maduro called for the Constitutional Assembly to force the opposition to negotiate with the people.
However, the reasons that America are keen to remove the Venezuelan government, is that they don’t follow policies that include austerity, privatisation and deregulation. Furthermore, blame has been placed at Maduro’s feet for food shortages, despite the private sector playing a key role in crucial sectors such as food distribution, consumer product importation and sales.
